The American Civil Liberties Union and partner organizations have filed a brief asking a federal court to order the release of Iraqi nationals who have been detained for months by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The court previously blocked the deportation of the Iraqis — many of whom have been in the U.S. for decades — until they have a meaningful opportunity to prove to an immigration court that they face persecution, torture, and death if returned to Iraq. Despite this ruling, and despite the fact that the Iraqis were living in the community for many years before, ICE has refused to release them and almost all remain detained indefinitely.

Read the brief.

“The government cannot lock people up without a reason, but ICE has done just that. These individuals have lived and worked in their communities, some for decades, and there is no reason they should not be home with their children and back at their jobs while their cases take months and years to work their way through our legal system,” said Miriam Aukerman, ACLU of Michigan senior staff attorney.

People in immigration proceedings cannot be detained unless the government is likely to remove them soon, and cannot be detained for prolonged periods without an individual assessment of whether they present a flight risk or are a danger to their community. The brief charges ICE is illegally refusing to release the Iraqis even though it could take many months or even years for their cases to be decided, and that it is detaining them without any individualized determination of whether their incarceration is justified.

In addition, those with removal orders who are detained for more than 90 days are entitled to an individualized review that addresses similar factors. However, instead of a meaningful review, the brief argues that Iraqi nationals have either been subject to blanket denials and extensions of their detention or they have not received a review at all.

“The Trump administration is shamefully prolonging the agony of these Iraqi families in the hopes that they voluntarily give up their immigration cases. It’s time for the court to once again step in and say enough,” said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.

The lawsuit, Hamama v. Adducci, was filed against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. attorney general in the U.S. District Court/Eastern Michigan District. In addition to the ACLU, the nationwide class-action lawsuit was brought by CODE Legal Aid,  Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, International Refugee Assistance Project, and the law firm Miller Canfield Paddock & Stone.

Read more case background.

A federal court today ruled that nearly 300 Iraqi nationals who have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will have an opportunity to be released. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith ruled that when Iraqis in the case have been detained for more than six months—as already nearly all of them have—they are entitled to go before an immigration judge and present evidence showing they should be released from detention. In June, Judge Goldsmith halted their deportations because of the danger they could face in Iraq, but almost all have languished in detention since then. Today’s ruling requires release of nearly all the detainees by February 2 unless an immigration judge finds clear and convincing evidence that a particular individual is either a flight risk or a public safety risk.   

Read the decision.

The detainees and their families, working with their immigration attorneys, will now need to request a hearing with the immigration court, where they can present evidence on their work history, family relationships, and community ties. The immigration court will then decide on release and bond.

“ICE’s position is that if you try to save your own life by asking the courts to protect you from deportation to a country where you face persecution, torture or death, ICE can lock you up for however long it wants. This decision means that ICE can’t punish Mr. Hamama—or the hundreds of others like him—with jail time for fighting to stay in America with their families.  The government cannot just lock people up and hold them indefinitely without reason. As the judge made clear, everyone who is put behind bars is entitled to their day in court,” said Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan.

“The government has caused Iraqi families immense suffering by detaining their loved ones unnecessarily for months. Today’s court ruling shows that enough is enough. Now, everyone is that much closer to being released and home with their families where they belong,” said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. 

Greyhound buses, once a symbol of travel on America’s vast highways, have become rolling traps where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents routinely board to unlawfully interrogate, detain and arrest passengers.  

The agents, with the agreement of Greyhound, stage surprise boardings without warrants to question riders about their citizenship and travel plans. In many cases, all too reminiscent of police states, the agents demand to see a passenger’s “documents.”

The warrantless raids, which saw a rapid increase in the past year, are not only a blatant disregard of passengers’ constitutional rights, they are also clearly driven by racial profiling.  On Wednesday, March 21, ACLU affiliates in California, Texas, Washington, Vermont, New York, New Hampshire, Michigan, Florida, Arizona, and Maine sent a letter to Greyhound Lines Inc. to urge the company to change its policies and refuse CBP permission to conduct raids on buses without warrants.

“Greyhound should be in the business of transporting passengers, but instead is allowing intimidating interrogations and searches,” said attorney Monica C. Andrade, ACLU of Michigan Skadden Legal Fellow. “These searches violate the rights of passengers, who simply want to arrive to their destinations safely. They should not be subject to warrantless arrests and the threat of deportation.”

Read the ACLU letter to Greyhound.

An incident reported to the ACLU of Michigan occurred in January 2018 when a couple arriving in Detroit by Greyhound was detained by CBP. The agents, without giving any reason for the stop, questioned the couple about their immigration status and asked them to produce their “documents.” The man was arrested by CBP, transferred to the local police department, and is currently being held in immigration detention while his U.S. citizen fiancé is struggling to bring her partner back home.

In a separate incident, a Greyhound bus leaving Michigan for New York was stopped. CBP agents boarded the bus and asked every passenger for their citizenship and immigration status and identification. Passengers who did not provide proof of lawful status were then taken into custody.

The common thread in the reports received by the ACLU of Michigan is that CBP agents operating on Greyhound buses focus on persons of color and never give passengers a reason for the stop. Indeed, CBP data obtained by the ACLU shows not only that 82% of foreign citizens stopped by CBP in Michigan are Latino, but also that almost one in three of those processed are U.S. citizens. This data strongly suggests that CBP is using ethnicity as the basis for its stops.

Examples of unlawful interrogations and searches have come from across the country.

• In California, CBP stopped a Los Angeles resident in Indio without any stated reason as he boarded a bus except that his “shoes looked suspicious,” like someone who had recently crossed the border. The man was detained to the point that he missed his bus. — In another instance, a CBP agent demanded that a Latino U.S. citizen who was filming a raid show two forms of identification.
• In Vermont, a bus arriving at 2a.m. in the Hartford area was boarded by agents. “They wouldn’t let us get off,” a witness told the Valley News newspaper, adding that the agents “only checked the IDs of people who had accents or were not white.”
• In Washington, a father and son were arrested, even though the son had DACA status and the father gave no information about his immigration status. The agent interrogating them without a warrant asked, “Are you illegal” and “Do you have your documents on you.”

Greyhound issued a statement earlier this year saying the company was “required” to cooperate with “enforcement agencies if they ask to board our buses.” But that’s not true. In fact, in accordance with court decisions stemming from the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, the company may deny CBP permission interrogate passengers aboard a bus without warrants or probable cause.

CBP agents and Greyhound have said agents do not need warrants if they are within 100 miles of the international borders with Mexico or Canada. But geography does not negate the Fourth Amendment. In Michigan, CBP takes the position that the entire state is within 100 miles of the border.

Learn more about Michigan and the 100-mile border zone.

The ACLU, in its “Know Your Rights” handouts, informs passengers that they have the right to remain silent and refuse searches when confronted by government agents who do not have warrants. They also have the right to record video of the incidents, even though there are reports of agents threatening people taking video of the unlawful raids.

Read the ACLU letter sent to Greyhound.